Monday Night Raw opened backstage with HHH pulling into the arena with a row of SUVs filing in behind him. He went to the window of one of the vehicles and mouthed something to whoever was inside. After firing the opening salvo on Smackdown last Friday, it appeared the superstars of NXT were looking to do the same on Raw. Could we see a matchup of Adam Cole and Seth Rollins later on in the show?
Inside the arena, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and his advocate Paul Heyman made their way down to ringside with some serious purpose. Heyman grabbed the microphone and proceeded to inform the WWE Universe that Brock Lesnar has quit Smackdown Live. Lesnar, according to his advocate, can do whatever he wants. Everyone else can’t do what Brock does because he’s better than everyone else. He’s also better than ‘the bitches in the back’ and he is planning to bring some otherworldly destruction upon the Raw roster until he finds Rey Mysterio. Once they leave the ring, Brock grabs some poor guy standing in the backstage area and asks him if he’s seen, Rey. The guy doesn’t know and Brock grabs him and throws him onto a table.
Kabuki Warriors vs Charlotte Flair and Natalya
The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Kabuki Warriors took on Charlotte Flair and Natalya. The announce team put over Charlotte and Nattie as a team, saying that they’ve really created a formidable team after only being paired together for a few matches. After countering the Asuka Lock into a Sharpshooter, Natalya made Asuka tap out to pick up the victory for herself and Charlotte.
Lesnar and Heyman appeared again, this time going to the Raw announce table. Heyman began by singling out Jerry “The King” Lawler. He told Lawler that if he didn’t give up Rey Mysterio, Brock would brutalize him and there would be no one around to revive him when he dies on air…again (a reference to Lawler having a heart attack on air a few years back). Dio Madden stood up to face off against Brock and protect Lawler. For his trouble, he got an F5 through the announce table. Suddenly, Rey appeared and attacked Brock with a giant lead pipe. He beat Lesnar about the knees and back before picking up the WWE championship belt and nailing him in the head with it. Officials and backstage agents came out to keep Rey away from Brock.
Backstage, Rey Mysterio delivered a very passionate promo. He said he was tired of Brock messing him and his family and he was ready to fight fire with fire. Mysterio would then challenge Lesnar to a one-on-one match for the WWE Championship at Survivor Series.
Cedric Alexander vs Buddy Murphy
After a commercial break, Cedric Alexander and Buddy Murphy were already in the ring prepared for their match. Cedric Alexander attempted an off the rope back handspring attack but Murphy countered it with a knee to the back. From there, he would nail Alexander with his Murphy’s Law finisher to pick up the victory.
Former WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins went down to the ring and grabbed a mic. He lamented his state of being after losing the championship to The Fiend Bray Wyatt at Saudi Arabia’s Crown Jewel event. Rollins said that for the first time in his career, he doesn’t know where he’s going from here. HHH showed up and informed Seth that, “Your past could be your future.” He mentioned how many times he’s helped Seth and how it ended up with Rollins either becoming a champion or making history.
It turned out to be a recruiting pitch for Seth to join NXT. Undisputed Era came in through the crowd and stood on the apron. Hunter then told Seth, “You’re either with me or against me.” The OC along with AJ Styles came down to ringside. As the Undisputed Era backed away, The OC attacked and a brawl ensued. Raw superstars came from the back and helped drive off the Undisputed Era.
The Game and The Kingslayer
After a commercial break, Seth confronted HHH in the back and told him that since Daniel Bryan couldn’t defeat NXT Champion Adam Cole, he would get the job done tonight, but he wanted their match to be for the NXT championship, and Hunter agreed.
Andrade and Zelina Vega took on Sin Cara and Carolina, who debuted last week in a mixed match tag team bout. Carolina, after not doing much last week to help Sin Cara, was on full display this week, flying outside of the ring to nail Andrade in one instance, and mixing it up heavily with Zelina in the next. However, it was not enough as Vega hit Carolina with a Basement Rana to secure the win.
Rusev came to the ring and challenged Bobby Lashley to a match. Lashley and Lana showed up and Lashley said he couldn’t compete tonight because he tore his groin while ‘performing’ for Lana. Lana said that they found someone to fight Rusev and out came Drew McIntyre, The Scottish Psychopath.
McIntyre and Rusev battled back and forth and just as Rusev seemed to be getting the upper hand, Lashley attacked him with a crutch to cause the disqualification. Rusev did his best to fight off the 2-on-1 attack but out of nowhere, Randy Orton appeared and delivered an RKO to The Bulgarian Brute. They continued to attack him until Ricochet made the save.
The Man and The Queen of Spades
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch had a face to face interview with NXT Women’s Champion Shana Baszler. Shana told Becky that she isn’t Ronda Rousey and that she was going to take one of Becky’s limbs after she taps her out at Survivor Series. Becky can’t figure out whether she respects Shana or wants to slap her face off. “The Man” told “The Queen of Spades” to bring her best so they can find out who’s the baddest woman on the planet.
The Street Profits along with Humberto Carrillo took on The OC with AJ Styles in a six-man tag match. After isolating Montez Ford for much of the match, Carrillo got the hot tag and commenced to clean house. After regaining the momentum and picking up a near fall, Carrillo would fall to an AJ Styles powerbomb, with the United States Champion using the ropes for added leverage for the 1-2-3.
The Viking Raiders decimated a couple of poor jobbers, then addressed The OC, telling them their feud is far from over.
NXT Champion Adam Cole squared off against Seth Rollins in the main event. The two put on a great back and forth contest only for it to end in a no-contest after the Undisputed Era, led by Adam Cole attacked Seth Rollins. From there, NXT and Raw superstars flooded the ring area and brawled with each other. Two outside suicide dives took place. One by Ricochet and the other by NXT’s Keith Lee would close the show as the two companies continued to battle. Where does this put Cole and Rollins in the coming weeks against one another? Cole and Rollins could be slated to go head-to-head with one another sooner rather than later.
